Colors
by Angel Ren
Summary: Ever want to get inside Marcus' head? What did he see in the antechamber in Volterra between Edward and Bella? Setting: New Moon Edited!


Summary: In the tower, what did Marcus see?

Edited AGAIN. I think I'm done messing with it. I promise! (03.19.08) I just HAD to fix the implications that Jane was Aro's mate. It was bothering me so much. But here we go.

_Colors_

It was an unusual situation. An unhealthy one, at that. Perhaps not the safest for every person in the room, either, which in and of itself was unusual, given that all but one of us were vampires. Aro desired Edward's preservation, and yet here they stood in the antechamber. That little scrap of flesh and blood was clinging to his side, the object of all the attention in the room, in more ways than one. Felix was agitated and hungry; it didn't take Edward Cullen's unusual gift to know that. He shifted casually, his red eyes focused on the girl. Edward was tense watching him; I guessed Felix was letting his imagination run away with him. She _did_ smell delicious, even I had to admit.

Naturally, the situation was dangerous for her. It was unlikely she would leave this room alive; or at least as alive as she was now. It was also dangerous for everyone else. Accidents did happen. It had been a while since our last feeding, and if Felix were to suddenly lose control of himself – and it was known to happen- he would be in danger from the Cullens. If the Cullens chose to protect their - what word could possibly describe their relationship? – then Caius would likely take the opportunity to retaliate against them. Jane would gleefully join in. I'd watch only if I could and help my own if necessary. Five vampires fighting in our antechamber, two of which willing to fight to the death. All for what? Protecting that _thing._

Interesting, to be sure. That _thing_ was important. Important beyond words, beyond meaning to the man who held her so gently and protectively at his side. Other than he, the girl, and I, no one had any idea how closely they were bonded. I don't even know if the Cullen girl realized how close they were. Perhaps she did.

They were a cacophony of colors. I'd never seen anything like it, ever. Every person had their own color. How that color interacted with other colors indicated the type of relationship. Jane's color was red, Aro's; orange. Jane's red was tied to Aro's out of loyalty, mingling, but his did not return to her. Had they been lovers, they would've mingled together, instead of being one-sided as it were. Caius was a quiet blue; there was no mingling of his color. Sometimes flickers of green would rise with it when he grew irritated, as he did now. He was uncomfortable too. Hungry, but more irritated at how such a human – and an average, insignificant human at that – could cause such uproar in Volterra. Caius liked rules, and he disliked rules being bent and broken, even for the Cullens. He'd never liked the Cullens to begin with.

I had seen the Cullen girl with her mate, as well. They were closer than any I had seen before today. She was a vibrant pink and he was a calm yellow. There were hints of orange and red from a bloody past, traces of it still lingering in who he was today. When they were together, their colors wrapped around each other, binding a little tighter than those of Aro and Jane.

Her scent filled the room. It was even making me thirsty. But thousands of years, if nothing else, teach patience and discipline. Aro had spoken of the girl as Edward's singer. If that were true… Edward was even more amazing.

I closed my eyes again to see their bond. I had not, in fact, imagined it. Edward radiated in shades of red and orange; violent, angry colors. The girl trembled in shades of blues and greens. I could see neither set of colors for what they were unless I looked closely. The two were surrounded by an ever-changing, ever-shifting aura of violets. Their colors did not wrap around each other as the other two Cullens' did; they _mixed._ They became one with each other. I'd never seen colors mix. Even when she… and I… we had never… but that was a long time ago. I didn't know they could mix – until I had seen those two, and I had witnessed many thousand – perhaps even million by now – relationships. Not one, ever, has had that sort of intensity. Ever. And Ever is a long time to one of us.

It sparked anger in me for some reason, that Edward had a relationship with a… with his _dinner_ that I had never had. Why did he get that sort of happiness? It was only fair that it should be in jeopardy now. He would lose it soon enough.

Just the same, I understood in that moment why Edward had come to us in the first place when he had believed she was gone. I had felt similarly after I had lost my mate. And yet… here I was standing. I was stronger than that Cullen; he had sought death, and I rose out of my grief. He was weak… just like his 'father.'

Why was Edward so against changing her? It would solve his problem. It might just be too late now. He had hesitated, and now he would lose her for forever. He had reasons. Covert, hidden ones. He was blinded by his stupidity. And the girl – she was suicidal!

And yet… They still confounded me. Not only did their colors mix, but they changed. When Edward looked down to the girl, his color would shift to a more gentle blue. Hers would warm to an affectionate pink. It was… confounding. They still took me by surprise, though I was sure I didn't show it. Colors weren't supposed to change. They never had before. I was quickly realizing that perhaps in the thousands of years I had existed, maybe it was possible I _hadn't _seen everything. It was a disturbing notion, really. Perhaps that was how Edward first felt when he realized he couldn't read her mind.

And then something even more incredible happened – something I would have never foreseen in my thousands of years of experience. My sickening notion that there were things we, the Volturi, had never encountered before was quickly solidifying.

Aro had requested her participation – it wasn't a request, just disguised as such. Looking to her… mate, who had nodded her forward, she had raised her hand for him. She was petrified – her hand trembled so violently before he clasped it. She was brave; I would give her that. She knew what we were. She knew what the red in all our eyes meant, compared to the gold she was used to with her… companions. As he touched her and his confusion became evident, his color wrapped gently around her trembling aura.

That was when I realized that Miss Isabella Swan just might walk out of this room alive. Aro was interested in her. A science experiment, but interested, nonetheless, and leaving her completely bloodless in this chamber would not fuel that. I didn't like the idea of such an anomaly walking around free.

It was then that the first of three consecutive surprises cropped up. First, Aro's gift… failed. I had never witnessed Aro's… once-unfailing gift… fail. Even Caius squirmed uncomfortably in the background. Aro's interest was peaked; I could feel his own bind slowly moving around the frightened child, tighter than before. Definitely interested. Like a frog in a laboratory. Maybe she was better off dead.

And then Edward, absolutely tense, rock-still beside her. He looked as though he were about to attack Aro. I wouldn't have put it past him at this point. Aro was thinking something that Edward didn't like. Bella and Edward's colors were still mixing, lingering. It was almost as though Edward's colors were wrapping around Bella's, trying to push Aro's away. But… auras didn't do that. They weren't animate in the sense of having a consciousness. ….Right? I was beginning to wonder.

Aro suggested Jane try, and as predicted, Edward threw himself between them. Perhaps I was the only one who predicted it: Aro looked startled for a brief moment and I could feel Caius shift again. Felix looked interested, and even leaned forward slightly. Idiot. Edward was going to kill him before too long. If Edward hadn't been splayed on the ground in agony, he would've probably been on top of Felix ripping his throat out. I couldn't read Felix's mind like Edward could, but the leer in his eyes as he watched the poor human said enough.

It wasn't the fact that Edward had thrown himself between Jane and the girl – I had predicted he would do that. Surprise Two came when Edward lay rolling on the ground in agony from Jane, his color - now a dangerous crimson red and black; I hadn't seen black in a long time - _still_ mixed with Bella's! When a couple separated from each other, their auras had always returned to their respective bodies. Perhaps a few strands would still be touching if the distance wasn't great - and 'great' was defined on an individual basis. For a lovesick couple, it was a few meters. For a couple bound together for eternity, like the Cullen girl and her mate, it would be in the tens of meters. But for Bella and Edward, it was like the amount and intensity of their aura grew to encompass the distance between them.

Bella looked positively frightened – not for her own fate, but because of him. She didn't seem to care that she stood in a room full of red-eyed vampires; all she was doing was fighting the Cullen girl – rather ineffectively – to rush to Edward's side and save him from the pain. I'd never seen a human put themselves before another before. Perhaps she wasn't as ordinary and insignificant as I'd once assessed. The magnitude of these two was quickly spiraling out of my knowledge range. Things I once assumed to be steadfast and true were being decimated one after another, like dominoes falling. And it didn't end there.

Their colors only became an unintelligible mix as their emotions mounted. It was taking even more and more focusing to tell them apart – it wouldn't be long before I could no longer do so; a frightening thought. Jane turned blood-red with fury as she fixed her gaze on the girl. The human didn't even see it coming. At least, I thought Jane was…yes, she was. Bella didn't even feel it; she was too concerned about Edward picking himself up off the ground. As he returned to her side, their auras diminished to how they had been before, just gently mixing, as if the colors themselves were comforted by each others presence. Jane's color flared in resentment, but Aro's cool words calmed her as his own aura wrapped around hers gently.

I remembered what Edward had looked like when he had come before us a few days earlier. He wasn't looking much worse than he did now, really. He had been ragged, and wrought with pain. As I looked into his eyes when he beseeched Aro to destroy him, I couldn't help but remember myself in a similar situation, a long time ago. But over a human girl! Ridiculous! Edward was fortunate that Aro found him fascinating. And the girl was equally as lucky. Edward had been a colorless entity without her. His body gave off no color, no aura.

Black color had two meanings: fury beyond fury or pain beyond reconciliation. Every creature I had encountered, human and vampire alike, that had lost a mate did the same thing. It was predictable. His or her color slowly receded to just form a gentle outside layer before it would fade to black. That soft, black layer, would not move or change for the rest of eternity. In the case with humans, it might flare back to life if he or she found another mate. For us, it was a shallow, cold husk, something like our own bodies, permanently reminding us of our lost mate – like my own.

Edward had come before us and bared no color. Not some vibrant color in the process of receding, not some ghost-like black shell around him. He was empty. At the time, I hadn't been paying much attention, and so I didn't think much of it. Was this the cause of the "hole in his heart"? It was like their souls – could I use that word? Vampires didn't have souls, but humans did – were bonded.

I fixed my gaze on the girl. Her wide eyes were staring at Edward, as if she were afraid he'd disappear any second. I wondered if she had looked the same at the time. I'd never know unless I separated them. She _had_ thrown herself off a cliff. What was she thinking? Idiot. What did she expect? Allowing herself to be so close to her predator. This was all ridiculous, really.

And then, the third shock occurred. Edward had glanced down to Bella, and Bella was already looking up at him. In the moment their eyes met, a golden ring wrapped around the two and faded into their mutual aura. I kept my face passive, and looked over the walls quietly, uninterestedly. I was still watching them with my mind. I didn't like this. She shouldn't be allowed to exist. This was strange, uncertain… and it was _wrong._ She was messing with the order of things, albeit unintentionally. Their relationship itself was strange enough: a human and a vampire! And not just any human.

She was his _singer_ nonetheless!

But. The question was… would she remain so? Aro was speaking again, Caius was protesting. She _did_ know too much, really, I had to agree. She really should be dealt with, but I could tell by the way Aro's aura was still brushing over Bella's curiously that he had no interest in spilling her blood. Not after the Cullen girl showed him something.

I did learn something today: (and it's not often a three-thousand year old vampire can say that) three thousand years can allow one to see a broad range of things, but to become complacent that one has seen it all is a very dangerous and foolhardy assumption and should never be made again.

It was ironic, in a twisted sort of way. Edward longed to protect the fragile, worthless, enigmatic human, and so he had left her. In doing so, he had condemned her to death, one way or another. The Law is quite clear on this. The moment she had stepped into Volterra, she was ours. In attempting to destroy his miserable, Bella-less existence, he had forced her to come after him. How could she not, when they shared a bond like that? Didn't he realize it? She could not have the normal, human life he desired her to have. And, oddly, I had the distinct impression she did not crave it nearly as much as he did. Watching their colors mix, I was willing to bet that Isabella Swan would readily give up her humanity to be with Edward Cullen for eternity. I couldn't be sure, but I felt like it was a safe bet. It was one of the few conclusions I had come to today that I felt reasonably comfortable with. Odd. It was all… very strange.

At mention of Heidi's arrival, Edward was off running down the hallway as fast as he could and keep the human at his side. I couldn't help but chuckle softly under my breath. I watched Edward as he ran with the girl, tucking her head down as they passed the group of people entering. She knew. She knew what was going to happen to them. I almost felt sorry for her. Almost. But she deserved this. Didn't she know what she was getting into? She knew now. And there was no way out.


End file.
